Dirty Projectors

Last Night: the Widowers, Bad Weather California and the Dirty Projectors @ hi-dive

Beyond Playlist: Michael Jackson and More

Beyond Playlist: Dennis Wilson and More

Overcasters SXSW tour diary

photo by Erin Tidwell and Kurt Ottaway (click to enlarge)Saturday, March 20: The sun burned off most of the cloud cover as the crowd continued to swell. In the Bat Bar, the Von Bondies tuned up all of their gear for a DirectTV taping, then launched into a near perfect set of fuzzy soul blues mixed i ... More >>

Sound Bites

Mini-Reviews

Mini Reviews

Mini-Reviews

The Dirty Projectors

Tuesday, April 4, Larimer Lounge, 303-291-1007.

Sonic Youth top seller at Twist and Shout

After two decades on Geffen Records, Eternal, Sonic Youth's Matador Records debut released last week, was the top seller at Twist & Shout for the week ending June 14. Mos Def's The Ecstatic,  Dirty Projectors' Bitte Orca, both released last week, came in at the second and fourth slots while ... More >>

Grizzly Bear top seller at Wax Trax

Grizzly Bear's latest disc, Veckatimest, nabbed the top slot at Wax Trax for the week ending June 21. The late-'70s Colorado punk compilation Rocky Mountain Low continues to stay in the top ten while new albums from Mos Def and Sonic Youth also grabbed spots in the top five. See the full breakdown a ... More >>

Sonic Youth top seller at Twist and Shout again

Sonic Youth's new album, The Eternal, grabbed the top slot for the second week in a row while George Harrison's new greatest hits collection, Let It Roll, came in second for the week ending June 21. Steve Earle's Townes, Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown and Mos Def's Ecstatic rounded out the top f ... More >>

Sunset Rubdown grabs tops spot at Wax Trax

Sunset Rubdown's Dragonslayer, released last week on Jagjaguwar, grabbed the top spot at Wax Trax for the week ending June 28. Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest moved down to third and Dirty Projectors' Bitte Orca moved up to the sixth slot. See the full breakdown after the jump.

Heavy Rotation, our top spins for the week of August 3, 2009

As music critics, the most common question we get asked (and ask each other, for that matter) is, "What are you listening to?" The pervasiveness of this query is precisely what inspired Heavy Rotation, our latest feature. For the benefit of those who happen to be curious, we've compiled a list of al ... More >>

NPR's All Songs Considered weighs in on the best music of 2009

​Last time we checked, there's still a good four months left until the end of the year. Regardless, that hasn't stopped Bob Boilen and company from NPR's All Songs Considered from weighing in on the best music of 2009 (so far). Actually, check that -- the results, which were posted on the show's b ... More >>

Dirty Projectors, White Rabbits, Meshell Ndegeocello shows announced

Sarah CassDirty Projectors​Originally a solo project for David Longstreth, the Dirty Projectors is now touring as a six-piece in support of the band's latest, the wonderful Bitte Orca. Longstreth and company stop at the Bluebird Theater Sunday, November 8. Tickets are $15.25 in advance and $18 day ... More >>

Heavy Rotation, our top spins for the week of October 5, 2009

​​As music critics, the most common question we get asked (and ask each other, for that matter) is, "What are you listening to?" The pervasiveness of this query is precisely what inspired Heavy Rotation, our latest feature. For the benefit of those who happen to be curious, we've compiled a list ... More >>

Over the Weekend: Sunset Rubdown at the Bluebird Theater

​Sunset Rubdown, tUnE-yArDs Friday, October 23 Bluebird Theater Better Than: Wolf Parade and Swan Lake combined. Providing the latest evidence that the loop pedal is the best thing to happen to one-person bands since the harmonica holder, Merrill Garbus, who performs as tUnE-yArDs, opened up the ... More >>

Dirty Projectors

Sunday, November 8, Bluebird Theater, 303-830-8497.

The Weekend Showdown: Nathan & Stephen/Hearts of Palm lead our top picks for this weekend

​ We would hate for you to miss out on all the awesome that happens every weekend in our fair city, so we've decided to run down three of the best shows in one easy-to-swallow post, with video and audio. Tell us -- and the rest of the world -- what we missed in the comments.

Over the Weekend: Dirty Projectors at the Bluebird

Dirty Projectors​ Dirty Projectors, Tune-Yards Sunday, November 8, 2009 Bluebird Theater What it was like: Watching a gospel choir through broken glass. There is a risk, when you see two bands as technically elaborate as Dirty Projectors and Tune-Yards, that you will get several hours of kno ... More >>

Over the Weekend: Lumberjacks are the new zombies

Aaron Thackeray​We've heard of Zombie Crawls and Snuggie Pub Crawls, but this was new: a Lumberjack Pub Crawl on Colfax. Photographer Aaron Thackeray was there. Over on our new outdoors blog, we have photos from the openings of Keystone and Copper. And on the Backbeat blog, we have reviews o ... More >>

Heavy Rotation, our top spins for the week of November 9, 2009

​As music critics, the most common question we get asked (and ask each other, for that matter) is, "What are you listening to?" The pervasiveness of this query is precisely what inspired Heavy Rotation. For the benefit of those who happen to be curious, we've compiled a list of all the things we'r ... More >>

Tom Waits top seller at Twist and Shout

​Apparently there was a bit of a fight between Tom Waits' Glitter & Doom Live and Susan Boyle's I Dreamed a Dream last week at Twist & Shout, and fortunately, Waits, who turned sixty yesterday, was the victor. Blakroc, the Black Keys' new hip-hop project, came in third, while Them Crooked ... More >>

Top 10 College Rock (or whatever you want to call it these days) Albums of the Year

Thanks to Micachu & the Shapes for making us keenly aware of a vacuum cleaner's emotional properties​Yeah, pal, that's "college rock," scare quotes very much included. Look, it's a meaningless term. As are "indie," "alternative," "hipster," etc., etc. Let's not overthink this: Here we have ten ... More >>

Backbeat writers weigh in on the year's best national releases

Thanks to Micachu & the Shapes for making us keenly aware of a vacuum cleaner's emotional properties​Yeah, pal, that's "college rock," scare quotes very much included. Look, it's a meaningless term. As are "indie," "alternative," "hipster," etc., etc. Let's not overthink this: Here we have ten ... More >>

Rodrigo y Gabriela top seller at Twist and Shout

​Rodrigo y Gabriela's 11:11 claimed the top top spot at Twist & Shout, while Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix came in second for the week ending January 3. Them Crooked Vultures' self-titled debut and Tom Waits' Glitter and Doom Live grabbed the third and fourth spots, while Tom Petty's Live ... More >>

Faith restored: Coachella 2010 lineup announced

Fucking A. Ask and ye shall receive, eh? (Well, it's not Denver, but close enough.) Just glimpsed the lineup for this year's Coachella. As far as headliners go, you've got your Jay-Z and your LCD Soundsystem and, uh, let's see here, Thom Yorke and ... yada, yada, yada. Whatever, dude. Five words: Fa ... More >>

Hermit Thrushes

Sunday, February 7, hi-dive, 720-570-4500.

Westword Music Showcase 2010 headliners announced

Mark our words: This year's Westword Music Showcase is going to be absolutely SICK! SICK! -- we tell you! Yesterday on KTCL, as you might have heard, we revealed part of the line-up. The best local acts spread out over ten stages across the Golden Triangle? Of course -- that's a given. But we've a ... More >>

What are Jay-Z's 99 problems? We know a bitch ain't one.

​ It's well known an this point that Jay-Z (appearing tonight at the Pepsi Center with Sound Tribe Sector 9, Trey Songz and Young Jeezy) has 99 problems, and a bitch, most certainly, ain't one. Curiously, though, until now, no one's really taken a hard look at just what Hova's 99 problems are ... More >>

This Just In: Boombox added to Westword Music Showcase lineup

All right, just when you thought this year's Showcase couldn't get any better, it just did. Adding to an already stacked lineup (one of our best yet, even if we do say so ourselves) that includes Ghostland Observatory, Superchunk, Dirty Projectors, Neon Indian, Single File and Oh My Stars, Boombox ... More >>

Lollapalooza lineup revealed. Soundgarden, Green Day, Lady Gaga among the headliners

This year's Lollapalooza lineup has been revealed. Bold face names this time around: Soundgarden, Green Day, Lady Gaga, Arcade Fire and Erykah Badu, alongside nearly ninety of the brightest emerging acts, including MGMT, Grizzly Bear, the National, Yeasayer, Phoenix, Frightened Rabbit and Edward S ... More >>

Moving Pictures: Behold the neutered and improved Metallica

Oh heavens, just stumbled across this clip, which, if you're asking, is 75 different kinds of awesome. How about a refreshing new variation on the now well trend of twisting well known tunes into nearly unrecognizable shapes (hello, Richard Cheese, Nouvelle Vague, Dirty Projectors -- how y'all doi ... More >>

The 15 most interesting things from the Night Owl, Makeout Point and Mitya show at the Skylark

Mitya. Photos by Kiernan Maletsky​ Mitya • Makeout Point • Night Owl 04.8.10 | Skylark Lounge This week, we're trying out a new method of recapping shows wherein we pick out the most interesting things that happened and sort them in chronological order. They won't all look like this, ob ... More >>

Tickle Me Pink added to 2010 Westword Music Showcase lineup

Summit Studios​This year's Westword Music Showcase lineup is now officially complete with the addition of Tickle Me Pink -- well, at least in terms of the main stage acts. In case you've missed it -- not sure how that's possible, exactly, as we've been talking this bad boy up like no other sin ... More >>

Westword Music Showcase local lineup revealed

Gabriel Rovick And Ryan James (Focus 4 Design)​ The complete lineup for Showcase has been finalized, and all that's left to do now is countdown the days until the sixteenth annual Westword Music Showcase takes place on Saturday, June 19. Nearly a hundred local acts (well over a hundred if y ... More >>

Presenting the 2010 Westword Music Showcase Schedule and Map

IMPORTANT SCHEDULING UPDATE: Due to circumstances beyond our control (and, more to the point, frontman Chris Fogal's) TAUNTAUN will not be performing in the 6:15 - 7 p.m. slot at Broadway's tomorrow. While Fogal is resting his aching back ("I would tough it out," he assures us, "but the problem is t ... More >>

Westword Music Showcase headliners: Behold the majesty of Dirty Projectors

As you'll see from the exchange after the jump, Dirty Projectors mastermind Dave Longstreth isn't much of a talker. It's almost as if he'd rather let the music speak for itself -- and it speaks volumes, as evidenced by the act's latest opus, last year's Bitte Orca. One of the freshest sounding disc ... More >>

Ghostland Observatory tops a stacked bill at this weekend's Westword Music Showcase

As you'll see from the exchange after the jump, Dirty Projectors mastermind Dave Longstreth isn't much of a talker. It's almost as if he'd rather let the music speak for itself -- and it speaks volumes, as evidenced by the act's latest opus, last year's Bitte Orca. One of the freshest sounding disc ... More >>

On Broadway

As you'll see from the exchange after the jump, Dirty Projectors mastermind Dave Longstreth isn't much of a talker. It's almost as if he'd rather let the music speak for itself -- and it speaks volumes, as evidenced by the act's latest opus, last year's Bitte Orca. One of the freshest sounding disc ... More >>

The Weekend Show Down: All Westword, all the time

​ We all know that every single weekend in Denver is like a confectionery of delicious shows: Too many choices, too little time. But if you have a hard time with that status quo, you're going to be ripping your hair out with indecision this weekend, because it's finally here, the Westword Mus ... More >>

Westword Music Showcase edition of The Denver Boot

​Our periodic feature, The Denver Boot, has been conspicuously dormant for the past, oh, six months or so. Perhaps you've noticed. Excellent reason for that: The master taper guy supplying the recordings, the illustrious Lance Stack from The Flat Response blog, has been a face on a milk carton for ... More >>

Westword Music Showcase 2010: Dirty Projectors

If you can get past the crackly sound (a detestable drawback of Flip-style cameras, whose condenser mikes are easily overwhelmed), here's a brief but enjoyable clip of Dirty Projectors shot by our pal Julio Enriquez from Cause=Time at the Showcase this past Saturday.

Westword Music Showcase 2010: Backbeat scribes' travelogue

​ Here's our massive, multi-page report/travelogue of the Westword Music Showcase from (in order) Tom Murphy, Cory Casciato, A.H. Goldstein, Jef Otte, Jon Solomon and Brain Frederick. Let us know in the comments what you saw and loved, saw and hated, or missed and hated yourself for missing. ... More >>

UMS Night Two Travelogue: Houses at hi-dive, Git Some at 3 Kings and more

Joshua Langlais​ UMS Travelogue, Night Two 7.23.10 / Baker District, South Broadway I started out with Papa Bear at the Irish Rover, where the band's uber sincere Neutral Milk Hotel vibe proved a good start to the evening. The band boasts a small horn section, and I happened to be right in t ... More >>

Indie collaborations: Are they taking cues from hip-hop?

​The National and Sharon Van Etten recorded a song for the Win Win soundtrack. It leaked yesterday, but Fox Searchlight has pretty well scrubbed the legal-ish streams. Regardless, the two artists are a good fit, Matt Berninger's sleepy baritone makes a seamless companion for Van Etten's own ho ... More >>

2011 Westword Music Showcase Ballot

​Seventeen years! It's hard to believe we've been doing the Westword Music Showcase for that long. I can still remember being at the first one in LoDo nearly two decades ago. And when I think back, it seems like that cold, rainy Sunday night was just a few years ago.

Anand Wilder of Yeasayer on being from Baltimore but making a name in New York

​Yeasayer (due tonight with Hush, Hush and Smith Westerns at the Ogden Theatre) was started by three guys from Baltimore, who each moved to New York separately before starting the band. During its four-year existence, the trio has developed an experimental pop sound that is more akin to quirky ... More >>

Gauntlet Hair signs with Dead Oceans

​Hooray for Gauntlet Hair and congrats to Dead Oceans for having the good sense to add the Lafayette-based duo to its roster. The outfit attracted the attention of the "instantly spellbound" label with a pair of 7-inch releases, one on Mexican Summer and the other on Gorilla Vs Bear's Forest F ... More >>

Bad Weather California has the first record on Akron/Family's new Family Tree Records

​Update (11/10/11): While most press releases generally tend to be fairly rote and often times hyperbolic, the one we received about the forthcoming Bad Weather California record, which has Seth Olinsky rhapsodizing about first meeting and then later working with the band, was insightful, and ... More >>